Income disparity.

[ivanm]

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I know this is off topic, but the thread on income disparity is missing a very important point about rich people.

A man whose pimary income is from wages is limited  unless he is an exceptional person, but a wealthy person with assets also has his money working for him. As one post pointed out, a person with interest or investment income of 40k can live off those earnings alone.

My wife and I realized this back in 1987 when we were first married, and we started socking away a great deal of our wages every payday until I was forced to retire in 1994.  We had accumulated enough in those short years, in tax free munies, to have an income stream of over 15k a year, so neither of us really worried about finding another permanent job.

The name of the game is to get your money working for you rather than you having to work for your money.

So if a rich person's portfolio cranks out say 10 percent a year then yes, his income will skyrocket compared to a grunt that is working for a wage. If the rich man has enough income to reinvest some of it each year then the thing compounds and his return further magnify. 

Anyone who doesn't understand this phenomenon has no business bitching about income disparity with the implication that wealth building is unfair and that Robin Hood should be called in to fleece the rich for the sake of the poor. What is fair about that?

[nraforlife]

ya'll still need to consider the Reality that the current division of income between return on Capital and return on Labour lacks equity. Capital holders are just as capable of greed and thus a society need to clip their wings as is Union Labour at times.

[ivanm]

ya'll still need to consider the Reality that the current division of income between return on Capital and return on Labour lacks equity. Capital holders are just as capable of greed and thus a society need to clip their wings as is Union Labour at times.

It appears that capital holders can be very shrewd and greedy in some cases.  I think it is a power thing, the more money you have the more power you have. 

However, one should not criticize a man for being wealthy as long as he has gained it honestly.  For example, we had an elderly neighbor lady who was really raking in the dough from her investments, and since she was a tight wad it grew faster than she was spending it.  It may have been a personal goal of hers, a way of overcoming the stigma and hardship of being one of 14 siblings.  The family was dirt poor and she may have had an inferiority complex because of it. 
But you know, she was a pure delight to know and in a way was a sharing and caring person.

I got a buzz out of what her daughter told her. She was going to have pockets sewn into her casket so she could take it with her.  It was Millie's dream to be wealthy and she made it, just short of 100 years old by a few weeks and working on her second million.

Surely the caring wealthy contribute to charity and also do things we don't hear about.  Even the greedy corps sometimes have angel flights and use their corporate jets to carry patients to specialists for treatment.  It is absolutely contrary to the American dream to not want someone to achieve wealth and those on the forum that bitch the most about it are making possibly six figure incomes.

I am happy with my modest income even though a good share of it goes to paying taxes.  The point is, those who have tangible wealth are subject to taxes, and in this socialisic state they even tax your investment earnings with a special intangibes tax. It is not enough for the chiseling bastards to tax it as income to begin with, they hit you twice, with the attitude that if you did not work for it then you are not entitled to keep it.  Talk about legalized mob rule, that is it.

[Case_Closed]

Money won't buy you happiness...unless it's a really sexy whore and some fine, fine booze and narcotics, of course.

[ivanm]

The disparity of income may come about  because of a number of different factors.  Not everyone has the intelligence or the talent to excel in an occupation that pays well. And this apparently has become a major problem with the unemployed.  Employers cannot find enough qualified or talented people to fill their positions and yet there are millions of people needing work.  In other words, the skills don't match the job requirements. It is called structural unemployment.

Some people are more energetic than others.  We have a lot of self employed people in this little town, and some appear to be doing very well.  I am thinking of the building construction and repair and remodeling trades.  The wages these people get exceeeds  that of those working for a corporation, except that the self employed have to pay for theri own bennies.  A number of young people just starting out have done work on my house, such as replacing the roof and gutters or doing concrete work.  Most of these people are obviously not very schooled, which would preclude them from ever becoming a player in the technical fields that go wanting for workers, but they do make good hands in the construction and upgrade trades.

Unfortunately there are not enough jobs to meet the needs of masses of unskilled or low skilled people.  And sadder yet is that so many of the people don't want to hustle for a living and want to start at the top of the ladder rather than at the bottom and work their way up. The state of Kansas has a relatively low unemployment rate, and that surprises me because there aren't many large corps in Kansas except in the few larger towns such as Wichita and the burbs of Kansas City.  I once talked to an unemployment office counselor about this and his reply was.  "No one gets rich in Kansas due to the relatively low wage scale and yet we all get to eat."  In other words, people who stay in the state have adjusted to having to work for less money than they could get in a more populous and more industrialized state.  I know that to be the case because I had to move away to find a good paying job that could utilize my skills and my potential as an analyst/programmer.

[ivanm]

Another factor that accounts for income disparity is a person or family's spendng habits.  It gets back to having the sense to set aside a little as you go along and to control your spending so you are not perpetually in hock for consumer items.

I can remember when I was first married.  It took us some ten years to sate our need (or greed) for status symbols, and thank goodness we had good jobs and only two children because we maintained our credit ratings and always stayed on top of our spending.   However, in my second marriage I saw first hand why so many people get down and stay down.  They buy food and waste it, or they buy convenience food and pay thru  the nose for it where they should be buying the basics and cooking at home. Living  off of purchased convenient foods can be very burdensome if you have children to care for.

Those same people did not work steady because of low skills and low inititiative.  What little they had left after paying the rent went for smokes, beer, and other good times, and all to often the kids got the short end of the stick. Is it any wonder they learn to steal for something to eat?

For some there is a stigma about being poor and uneducated that they cannot overcome. That is really bad because when people give up or lack the will to get on top they are beat from the start, no matter how many opportunities await them.

Can handouts close the gap of inequality?  I don't think so.  Granted, those in need have to get help from somewhere, and I don't mind helping them.
But long term that just keeps body and soul together and does not promote the desire to climb out of  the hole they are in.  I think in too many cases the poor have resigned themselves to being wards of the state, and generation after generation of the same family live from one relief check to the next.
What a waste of humanity, what a waste of the precious time these people have on earth?

[Case_Closed]

Ya know what?  I'd feel a lot better about helping "The Poor" if they didn't have that angry attitude hanging over them like they were entitled to the "stuff" they are getting...for free.

Get some humility, ungrateful a$$hole$!!!

[ivanm]

Ya know what?  I'd feel a lot better about helping "The Poor" if they didn't have that angry attitude hanging over them like they were entitled to the "stuff" they are getting...for free.

Get some humility, ungrateful a$$hole$!!!

Yep, there is no bigger turnoff for me that to have a touchee feelee armchair activist telling me what I should do about my giving and how much I should give.  I think that a lot of the static we are getting from the liberals has little to do with actually helping the needy. How much do  they give to charity? 

The name of the game for certain degenerates is to come to the forum for a lark, to piss off the more conservative minded postes with their idiotic posts.

This morning I have updated my list of those on ignore status becasue I think that the only way to deal with these trouble makers is to ignore them.  Why try to reason with them, why waste pearls on swine?

[Case_Closed]

This morning I have updated my list of those on ignore status becasue I think that the only way to deal with these trouble makers is to ignore them.  Why try to reason with them, why waste pearls on swine?

Well, Ivan, it's been my experience that "most people" come to boards such as this to argue (over irrelevant shit) and vent their anger.  Amusingly, the anger they are venting is the anger they have about themselves.  I think it's therapeutic in a sense and has prevented the kicking of many a puppy at least and has prevented a serious ass kicking at best had they behaved this way in real life.

[ivanm]

Well, Ivan, it's been my experience that "most people" come to boards such as this to argue (over irrelevant shit) and vent their anger.  Amusingly, the anger they are venting is the anger they have about themselves.  I think it's therapeutic in a sense and has prevented the kicking of many a puppy at least and has prevented a serious ass kicking at best had they behaved this way in real life.

Wouldn't you like to be a job supervisor over a bunch of these cry babies?  My super once said it was like trying to herd cats!   

[Case_Closed]

Wouldn't you like to be a job supervisor over a bunch of these cry babies? 

Imagine having as your "Boss Key" the F1.  LOL.

Familiarize yourself with multiple windows.

[johnhp]

Wouldn't you like to be a job supervisor over a bunch of these cry babies?  My super once said it was like trying to herd cats!   

You are amusing.  Why are you posting in defiance of Lucy's ban of you?